Book review: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari

What do I think?

This book was recommended to me by a friend. She highly praised the book and honestly, I was looking into reading some non fiction book too, so why not give it a try? Not entirely happy with how happy the hardcover copy that I got; like it’s a struggle to just hold this book. And, honestly, though indeed I was looking into reading non fiction books, I’m not entirely sure I could enjoy this book. I don’t read science book (or anything remotely close to it) because my brain just could not keep up, but then again, this book is supposedly about the historical aspect of it, so I had hopes.

And guess what, guys? I’m glad I gave this book a try, because I end up loving the whole experience reading it. I genuinely thought this was going to be a book about history and that’s pretty much it. But it is so much more than that. The author would put out theories and thoughts that would leave me so baffled and surprised and I couldn’t move on from it. More than once that I was surprised by what the author was putting into the books, things that are so mundane and I had taken for granted could actually shook me to the core. Take for instance, the concept of money, time, or even the idea of nationalism. You would think that of course we would need those things, but there was a moment in time when none of those things exist and humans were fine to some degree. But the changes within humans, cause a massive shifting in humans’ way of life, resulting in the need of those things, or the imagined concept of religions and human rights.

Look, I’m not a very good story teller, but I can assure you, this book is so good. Word of advice, let go of things you used to believe beforehand, so you can better enjoy and engage well with the topics mentioned in the book.

The best part about this book? I didn’t even come close to getting bored. Every turn of pages always offer one interesting after the next. And it doesn’t feel like it’s being patronising. This feels like sitting next to your smart friend, sipping a cup of tea and listen to your friend telling stories about humankind and everything in between.

Tell you what, just pick up this book and enjoy a good nice weekend (or whenever you have a day off from work or school) and read it. Have fun with it.

What’s it about?

Taken from Goodreads

In Sapiens, Dr Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical – and sometimes devastating – breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural and Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, paleontology and economics, he explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities. Have we become happier as history has unfolded? Can we ever free our behaviour from the heritage of our ancestors? And what, if anything, can we do to influence the course of the centuries to come?

We believe in a particular order not because it is objectively true, but because believing in it enables us to cooperate effectively and forge a better society. Imagined orders are not evil conspiracies or useless mirages. Rather, they are the only way large number of humans can cooperate effectively.

Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

Published by dilchh

I read books and then write what I think about the books. Most of the times I don't make any sense, but that's what happens when I get too emotional with the books that I just read and/or are reading. I sometimes write about my personal rants on basically almost random things, from the most mundane to the utmost incomprehensible topics. I mostly bore people to death and back again, but I take that as my charm. Cheers!
View all posts by dilchh